Why isn't anyone discussing men empowerment?
Last week, my mother was away from home for a picnic with her colleagues. She started spamming our family group with numerous photos from early morning. Some of you reading this were spammed by her photos on Fb. My apologies on behalf of her... I need to teach to post multiple pictures as a single post.
Anyways, as my mother continued spamming the group, my dad had posted a picture of him enjoying his tea with the caption, 'I made tea. Now thinking of breakfast and lunch'. I was like 'Way to go Dad! Men empowerment!'. FYI, his tea tastes so good that he often boasts about it...
In another instance, my cousin brother called me from abroad. As we were discussing his studies and life in general, I asked him about how he manages to prepare food without a cook. He told me that he is the official cook among the students. I was like, Good for you...It has become a life skill after all. He told me, "Indeed it is. My friend's mom asked him to learn cooking and post pictures on matrimony sites to get suitable alliances. Haha...". Wow, moms definitely know the trick to get their kids married, isn't it? Gentlemen, take note, if you want to impress your crush, post a cooking reel, she might get impressed and would like to have coffee with you. Ladies out there aren't looking for wealth or status. They are empowered enough to make a living for themselves. They are looking for an equal partner but are our boys empowered enough for that??
While women empowerment is a widely discussed topic, we don't seem to give enough stress to empowering our men.
Source: freepik.com
Not just in the kitchen, are our men empowered enough to stand by the women on everything and all the adversities? Because let's face it. Without empowering our men, women empowerment can bring only additional burden to the ladies as they play the role of both caretaker and caregiver.
Empowering should start from childhood and this applies to both girls and boys. Give them small responsibilities at home like tidying up their room, dishwashing etc. and imbibe the habit of saving in a piggy bank. Above all, treat your son and daughter equally and give both the freedom to explore their opportunities.
At school, teach both boys and girls about the limitless possibilities of the future. Make sure they are taught to respect everyone irrespective of their gender and adopt gender-neutral policies. Empower our boys to the extent that their female counterparts would be as comfortable discussing period cramps as to a female friend.
At the company level, please do not make the women employees feel weaker by giving period leaves. Offer them a hot water bag when the cramps become too much to tolerate. Make both parents are equal partners in taking care of the newborn. If maternity leave lasts 6 months, grant the father at least 3 months of paternity leave following the mother's leave so that the mother can get back to her job without any fret.
Lastly to the policymakers, women do not want you to fix an appropriate age to get married but give them the freedom to choose when, where and to whom to get married or not to get married at all. Make policies to ensure a girl would be safe at home with her family, in the neighborhood with friends and on the road with strangers. Empower our men to show their strength by protecting our girls rather than by taking advantage of them.
